Innocent in the Italian's Possession (11 page)

No, for Cesare’s recovery and for his child. For her
own agreement with Stefano. What would the future hold for them?

She pushed past the man she’d loved to distraction last night and came face-to-face with an older woman. Even if the family resemblance hadn’t been unmistakable, Gemma knew this was Cesare’s sister.

“
E’questa la donna
?” the woman asked Stefano, her dark eyes as censoring as her nephew’s.

“
Sì
,” he said, leaving Gemma to wonder what he’d told his aunt about her.

Nothing good she was sure, given he bore no resemblance to the gentle, sensual man she’d made love with last night. And could that have been his goal all along? Had he set out to break down her defenses with the love she craved so she’d reveal his father’s secrets?

Had he tried to seduce her into trusting him?

If so then he’d misjudged her loyalty to Cesare.

From what she’d learned of him, he disliked being wrong or bested. Right now hard, unyielding Stefano ruled in the light of day, and it was obvious he was furious with her for escaping his yacht and coming here.

So she hurried down the hall with his hand pressed to the small of her back. Thankfully nobody could hear her knees knock with worry.

Nobody but her felt her heart aching with indecision. That small, dominating hold on her was creating havoc within her, reminding her of the passion they’d shared. Of the heat that still flared between them.

Was that all it was? Sex?

It must be. But even as she settled on that reason, she feared that another emotion had begun to take root last night. Love.

Last night he’d made love to her so thoroughly and so
deeply that her heart had beat in tandem with his. She’d seen a tenderness in him that he kept hidden, a vulnerability that she’d glimpsed once before when he’d mentioned his sister-in-law’s deceit.

She’d sensed his raw need tinged with fear and her heart had melted then and there. She’d ached to comfort him. To hold him into the night. To love him now and forever.

She’d melded with the soul of the man and knew he was capable of intense compassion as well as passion. She wanted to believe he’d embrace the role of Rachel’s brother. She wanted to trust that Stefano Marinetti would finally put family above business and himself. She wanted to believe all would be right.

And now? Now in the harsh light of day the ruthless, arrogant Stefano was back in control. She slipped into the alcove and whirled on him, breaking the contact that muddled her mind so.

When it came to business, Stefano was brutal.

When it came to family, he’d walked away before without a care. She couldn’t let that happen to Rachel. She couldn’t let him hurt her, either.

He pressed Gemma against the wall and stood over her, his hard, lean body centimeters from hers. It was a pose she’d seen countless times between couples on the street when they wanted a private moment to share a few words.

Or to share a kiss.

A delicious shiver ran through her and she damned her body’s eager response to his. Here and gone, leaving an intense ache of want. Leaving her trembling.

“You were to wait on the ship for me,” he said in a furious whisper that raised bumps on her skin.

She’d not allow him to heap guilt on her. “I was worried about your papa, and you.”

The pulse in his temple beat madly, belying the cocky
smile he affected. “He is unconscious,
bella
. The doctors don’t know when he’ll awaken or what condition he’ll be in when and if he does.”

Just what she’d feared. “I’m so sorry, Stefano. If there is anything I can do—”

“You can obey a direct order from now on, okay?”

“Of course,” she said and hoped he couldn’t hear the lie in her voice.

He shifted closer, his mouth quirking just so while desire softened the hard glint in his eyes. “What is going through your mind right now?”

Unbidden came the memory of them locked together in passion, writhing as one. She quivered at each deep rasp of his breath, of his spicy scent that teased her senses and clung to her skin yesterday morning. That seemed a lifetime away now.

He’d been dominant yet gentle, not this domineering man who had the ability to shift from intractable to sensual in the blink of an eye. Right now it was all she could do to keep her spine pressed to the wall when she wanted to bow into his body.

“I’m concerned about Cesare,” she said. “And we have unsettled business between us.”

“You are worried about our personal contract?”

She nodded, for though she wanted to trust him at his word, she knew she’d be a fool to do so. Especially since she was sure to displease him when she suddenly disappeared later today.

He lightly grazed her cheek with a bent knuckle. Tendrils of energy flowed from his touch to set her insides spiraling out of control.

“It will be drafted by tomorrow and ready for your signature,” he breathed near her ear.

She gave in to a shiver. “Good. I can sign it when I return from visiting my nonna.”

“When did you decide to do this?” he asked, trailing that finger down her throat.

“After that episode with my brother,” she breathed, fighting the urge to tip her head back and sigh her pleasure.

“I’ll go with you.”

“No. I need to do this alone and you need to stay here with Cesare,” she said, and when his eyes narrowed she added, “Please. She wouldn’t understand me bringing my boss home.”

“Very well. We will sign the papers upon your return, then celebrate tomorrow night, hmm?”

“Yes,” she said, her breath quickening at the thought of lying in his arms again.

His fingers stroked her throat before spreading around her neck, not with threatening pressure but firm nonetheless. “Who is Rachel?”

She went deadly still, unable to move. He’d heard her talking to herself after all.

Gemma couldn’t swallow. Couldn’t do anything but stare up into his eyes that had gone hard and black again.

“The child of a dear friend,” she said, speaking the truth and knowing he’d doubt her.

“Don’t lie to me,” he said.

“I’m not,” she said.

She sensed the subtle shift of emotion in Stefano, a tightening of his muscles. A snap of annoyance in his eyes.

He pressed his face close to hers and she helplessly lifted her head for the kiss that wasn’t about to come. And why would she even want to kiss a man who was being irrationally obdurate?

But he surprised her with a quick, hard kiss that left her
wanting so much more. He withdrew his mobile and punched in a number. “I’ll have my driver take you to the train station. He’ll be waiting for you at the door.”

“That isn’t necessary.”

“I insist.”

He was laying down an order that she had no intention of obeying.

She had something important to do before she boarded the train to Milan. Something that would only raise more questions if he knew. Questions that she still couldn’t answer.

“Thank you,” she said with a smile, and hoped to hell he couldn’t read the lie in her eyes.

T
HE
second his driver phoned to let him know that Miss Cardone had never left the hospital, Stefano knew she’d tricked him. She’d looked him in the eyes as the lie tumbled from her ripe lips.

She must have slipped out a side door of the hospital. But as he stood outside under a full Tuscan sun, he had no way to know which direction she’d taken.

This was Saturday morning. Whether she’d visit her nonna in Manarolo was moot. If her habits held to form, she would take the train to Milan.

This time instead of traveling with his papa, she’d go alone. Unless Stefano was lucky enough to speed to the station and catch her before her train left.

He’d just about decided she’d caught the train that had just pulled out when he saw her hurry into the train station. She had a carry-on gripped in one hand and a wrapped package in the other. A gift. For the mysterious Rachel?

Though his possessive bent urged him to make his presence known now, he feared she’d likely forfeit her visit if he did so. Such loyalty to his papa!

What did he have to do to earn that same devotion?

Trust.

He’d never granted it to her, nor had she to him. They were very much like feral cats circling one another, both wary, both knowing any mating would come in an explosion of emotion.

Perhaps that was what drew him to her. She didn’t throw herself at him or play mind games as too many of the women he’d dated had done.

With the exception of these jaunts she’d taken to Milan, she’d been honest and real with him. He was surprised that he enjoyed being with her more than he’d ever enjoyed the company of another woman. She held his interest and stoked his desire, whether they were verbally sparring or making love.

Yes, he’d used the wrong tactic with Gemma Cardone from the start. She didn’t cower to threats or confess all in the throes of passion. She kept her head and she held her confidences close to the heart.

Too close perhaps, for she put her loyalty above all else.

Milan.

The city she and his father had escaped to with aching regularity. He suspected that he’d find the mysterious Rachel here.

The child of a friend.

What he couldn’t imagine was how the hell had his father figured into this?

A grim smile touched his lips as the train chugged toward Milan. It was just a matter of time now before he caught her in her lies.

The trill of her phone sounded overly loud in the confines of the train. Gemma answered it immediately, fearing that Cesare had taken a turn for the worse and Stefano was calling her.

Instead it was the banker she’d contacted a couple of days ago regarding the loan. Before she could tell him it wasn’t necessary, he launched into a heated diatribe of the shortcomings of the inn.

“Our inspectors paid special care to the property,” he began, “and there wasn’t any evidence that restorations had been done in years.”

“That’s impossible. I sent home thousands of euros for the repairs.”

“Perhaps you did,” the banker said. “But I can assure you not a bit of it was used to upgrade or repair the inn. For that reason alone we can’t possibly grant a loan for any amount.”

She hung up, dazed and heartsick. She didn’t doubt the man. Nor did she have to wonder what had happened.

She’d trusted her brother to see to the renovations. She’d believed him when he’d given her updates. She’d been grateful that she hadn’t had to take time away from her initial healing, and then from her job to see to the work herself.

He and his wife had lied to her for a year. She doubted Nonna was aware of it, for she’d only promised she’d make the inn a beautiful place again.

No wonder the older woman had given Emilio her shares. He’d clearly deceived her as well.

And the money? He’d gambled it away. She was sure of it.

Her heart ached for what she must do now. She had to tell Stefano the truth.

She couldn’t deceive him in this since he’d paid her brother a fat sum for his shares. It didn’t matter that he was rich and could afford the loss.

She couldn’t welcome him into her arms with another lie between them. If he discovered the state of the inn, he’d surely believe she’d duped him from the start.

No, she’d have to trust he’d believe her in this. And if he didn’t?

Gemma swallowed hard and stared out the window. If he rescinded his offer, fired her or both, she didn’t know what she’d do.

Stefano wondered who’d phoned Gemma for though the call was brief, it had changed her demeanor. Perhaps deflated her spirits was a more accurate description.

Her smile had vanished and she appeared pensive.

He ached to go to her. Comfort her. But he couldn’t let her know he was following her for she’d likely alter her plans.

He couldn’t risk that, not after coming this far, not when he would finally discover who Rachel was and what her tie was between Gemma and his father.

So he shifted uneasily on the bench and tried to harden his heart to her distress. For the first time he failed miserably.

The Benevenuto Scuola sprawled on the fringe of the second ancient wall surrounding Milan and provided a relatively large yard for exercise in a city that was mostly marble and concrete. Like the private school Stefano had attended as a boy, the building was aged.

But old in Milan screamed Renaissance and this school was no exception.

He’d kept a careful distance from Gemma as she wound her way from the train station to the school. But now that she was going inside, he picked up his pace.

He didn’t wish to lose her after trailing her across Italy. The sun had warmed his body while the rumba sway of her hips had heated his blood.

The spirited
clack
of her heels on the marble floor echoed
in the vast hall like a pagan beat. He felt her tension pound in his head, felt her anxiety reach out to him, felt her pulse thrum in time with his own.

She was a few feet from a massive horseshoe staircase that rose to a second floor. Students milled about on the balcony with some leaning over the thick marble banister.

They were all adolescent girls dressed in sedate uniforms, and he’d place the pupils in age from six to mid-teens.

“Gemma!” One girl’s shout echoed over the hum of voices.

Stefano picked up his pace and closed the distance between him and Gemma. Not that he had to rush now.

A young girl raced down the staircase and threw herself into Gemma’s waiting arms. The two erupted in laughter and girlish giggles: She must be Rachel.

“Look at you,” Gemma said, holding the girl away from her. “You’ve grown another inch since I last saw you.”

The girl beamed and his insides twisted. No! His eyes must be deceiving him.

He rocked to a stop a few feet behind the pair, thunder-struck by the girl’s unmistakable family resemblance. She was a Marinetti. He was certain of it. But who was her father?

The girl noticed him then and went just as still. But her shock lasted less than a second.

She tore herself from Gemma’s arms and rushed to him, but seemed to barely restrain the impulse to launch herself into his arms. “You finally came!”

“No, Rachel,” Gemma said, trying to catch the girl.

But it was too late.

Rachel stood before him, her smile wide and her eyes glittering with unmistakable joy as if challenging him to return the favor. “You are more handsome in real life than in your pictures.”

“
Grazia
,” he found himself saying, captivated by her exuberance. “You know who I am?”

She giggled at that. “Of course, I know! Papa brought me pictures so I’d know my half brother.”

Maledizione
! Rachel was his father’s love child.

His mamma had been right. His father had engaged in an affair. But it hadn’t been recent as she’d feared.

Rachel wasn’t shy or reserved. No, she was boisterous and outrageous and clearly starving for attention.

“Rachel, please.” Gemma pulled the girl back and put a meter or two between her and Stefano.

“Where is Papa?” Rachel asked, looking from him to Gemma. “Didn’t he come, too?”

“Not this time,” Gemma said, seeming pale and far too nervous. “But he sent you this.”

Gemma gave the girl the package she’d carried from Viareggio.

Rachel tore into it and squealed. “He’s a perfectly gorgeous kitten. Is it angora like the others?”

“Perhaps.” Gemma’s flush gave her away, but Rachel didn’t seem to notice. But he did and he’d bet angora kitties didn’t come cheap.

“Why don’t you put your new kitty in your room and then we’ll leave?” Gemma said.

“Okay. I’ll be right back,” Rachel said, then looked him square in the eyes. “Are you coming to the doctor with us?”

“No,” Gemma said.

He allowed a smile that felt as tight as his nerves. “Of course I will.”

Rachel beamed before racing off up the stairs, and the wall of reserve inside him shifted. Nobody had ever seemed that pleased to be in his company before.

“How dare you follow me,” Gemma said, turning on him like a pit viper.

He cocked an eyebrow, torn between amusement and rage over her part in this deception. “Why wasn’t I told I had a
sorellastra
?”

“Ask Cesare,” she said.

“Are you saying you don’t know?” He loosed a humorless laugh when he was tempted to curse the walls down because she was still refusing to be honest with him. “You are his private secretary. You know all of his business, all of his dirty secrets so I am sure you know why the hell my father chose to keep his love child a secret.”

She cupped her hands to her face and trembled. “Look around you, Stefano. This isn’t the place to discuss this.”

He set his teeth, hating that she was right, hating it more that he’d lost control of his emotions in public, no less. That had never happened before he’d met Gemma Cardone. Now he was changing before his own eyes into a man he scarcely knew.

“Is she the only one or did my father have others he kept apart from us?” he asked.

“As far as I know Rachel is his only illegitimate child.”

And that half sister was rushing back down the stairs with a smile that rivaled the sun.

“Where is her mother?” he asked.

“We don’t know,” she said, and the tense line of her shoulders drooped even more. “She abandoned Rachel at the hospital when she was six years old.”

Not a sterling character endorsement for his father’s lover. “Her age now?”

“Seven.”

That was when Stefano had graduated from the university and began working at Marinetti. He’d brimmed with new
ideas to improve the company—ideas his father had refused to consider.

Cesare had wanted Marinetti to remain the solid old company that his father and his father before him had managed. “Marinetti Shipyard prides itself on tradition,” his father had said, and of course Davide had agreed. “We are loyal to the community, our employees and our customers.”

And all the while his father had been forcing Stefano to stand on old-world standards, he had been having an affair.

Gemma could not quell the trembling inside her. Stefano sat on the other side of Rachel in the oncologist’s office and remained calm. Too calm, in her opinion.

He had to wonder about the state of Rachel’s health. He had to notice that his chatty half sister had gone unnaturally quiet.

But he didn’t ask questions and he didn’t attempt to make small talk. He just sat beside his half sister and skimmed through a magazine.

On money, no less!

The inner office door opened and a nurse offered a benign smile. “Rachel Pantaleone.”

Gemma rose with Rachel and wondered if the girl’s name struck a chord in Stefano. Something surely had prompted that black scowl again.

“Do you want me to accompany you?” he asked Rachel, flooring Gemma by asking that.

“Yes, please,” Rachel said and took his hand just like she always had done with her father.

Tears instantly stung Gemma’s eyes for deep down she’d prayed that Cesare would confide in his family one day. She’d hoped that he’d welcome Rachel into his home instead of leaving her here in this elite school apart from her family.

Of course the girl would gravitate to Stefano. He oozed confidence. Plus he was more than six feet of sensual sophistication, broad-shouldered and heart-poundingly handsome.

But she’d never dreamed that Stefano would be so patient and attentive to his sister.

Of course she knew he was determined to unearth all of his father’s secrets regarding Rachel. That would surely test the heart of this man when he learned of Gemma’s involvement.

The doctor entered with a smile. “I see you have brought someone new along.”

Rachel giggled. “This is my brother, Stefano. He’s very rich and very handsome.”

“Rachel,” Gemma scolded in hopes of saving the doctor embarrassment.

“Don’t you think he’s handsome?” Rachel asked her.

Gemma knew her face was flame-red. “Yes, very handsome,” she repeated and hoped that would be the end of it.

The doctor thankfully stepped in and extended her hand to Stefano. “I am Dr. La Rizza, by the way.”

“My pleasure,” Stefano said.

“I read an article about your latest eco-friendly yacht,” she said. “Very impressive.”

“I can give you a tour if you are interested.” He paused a beat and flashed the doctor a smile. “Or if you are just curious and would like a day away from these walls, you have only to ask.”

Gemma went tense and edgy again, and this time she was certain of the cause. Jealousy. Stefano looked at her with that same hunger when they made love.

Right now he acted as if he’d enjoy doing the same with the doctor. And his adolescent sister was sitting in the room!

An adolescent sister who clearly was enthralled by her
brother as well. But where Rachel was trusting the brother she’d only heard about, Gemma was more circumspect. As she’d discovered of late, brothers could deceive in the cruelest of ways.

If her own brother whom she’d loved and nurtured could stab her in the back, how safe could Rachel be with a sibling who was a virtual stranger? One who’d had no difficulty turning his back on his family before.